


Wrong Number

by lovethecoat51



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 13:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2853071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovethecoat51/pseuds/lovethecoat51
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started with a wrong phone call. Leonard never could have predicted the rest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wrong Number

**Author's Note:**

> for our secret santa exchange!

It all started with a wrong number. 

Jim had been waiting for his advisor when the phone in his office rang. They were working out some details for Jim's semester when Dr. Pike had been called away by another professor to take care of something. Had it been any other professor, Jim would have just ignored the phone, not wanting to accidentally invade their privacy. But Dr. Pike was a different story altogether, and he had no qualms picking up the receiver, almost hoping it _was_ something personal. 

"Dr. Pike's office, sorry but he's away from his desk right now," he said in a surprisingly professional voice. 

"Dr. Pike? Aww shi- I mean, crap ,” came a deep voice with a slight Southern accent from the other end of the line.

"Wrong extension?”

"Yeah, I'm looking for Dr. Boyce's office. Sorry, I'll call the-"

"No problem, man," Jim interrupted. There was something in that voice that made Jim want to listen to it for hours on end. He needed to keep the guy on the line just a little while longer. "Give me a second, I can get it for you.”

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

Jim sat down at Pike's computer to pull up the university 's website and get the right extension for the guy. "I'm Jim, by the way."

“McCoy, Leonard McCoy."

"Nice to meet you, Leonard. Well, sorta. " While it was nice to have endless information at his fingertips, Jim was slightly disappointed when he found the right number in mere seconds. So much for keeping him on the line. "I got your extension right here. Boyce is 7101."

"What did I dial?"

"1701. But I can connect your from here, if you like."

"Thanks, you've been a big help, Jim."

"Don't mention it, Leonard."

It could have ended there, been completely forgotten about and never thought of again. But as Jim swiveled around in Pike’s office chair, he thought it would be a good use of his time and resources to do a little research.

Ten minutes later, Pike walked back into his office and didn’t even bat an eye at Jim sitting at his desk. “Outta my chair,” he said, swatting at Jim’s head with a file folder. “And you better not be looking at porn on my work computer.”

“I save that for your home computer,” Jim said innocently as he closed his windows and hopped up onto his feet. “So, any chance I could squeeze a bio class in?”

“You’ve already taken your required science credit and, if I recall correctly, ten minutes ago you were moaning about all the classes you had to take that had nothing to do with your degree.”

“I had a change of heart.”

“Uh huh,” Pike said, glaring at his advisee over the rim of his coffee cup before he set it down and sighed. “When do you want to take it?”

“This semester. Hopefully, the Thursday 9 am one.”

“That’s specific.” But Pike was already looking through the class roster on his computer. “What’s her name, Jim?”

“I can honestly say, I’m not doing this for a woman.”

“A guy, then?”

“Can you do it or not?”

“Alright, let’s see if we can make it work, your highness.”

* * *

At the beginning of the semester, Leonard had heard that some kind of celebrity had enrolled at Starfleet University, but as he _really_ wasn’t interested in star-watching, he didn’t pay it much attention. He was too busy with his own pre-med studies, plus his teaching assistant duties, to stand around outside the cafeteria on the off-chance he even recognized the person in the first place. On top of that, some idiot had decided to add Bio 101 at the last minute and Leonard had to gather up two weeks’ worth of material to get them caught up to the rest of the class. It wasn’t even a science student, just some history student that was probably trying to get their science credit out of the way, and so Leonard couldn’t rely on their background knowledge to help at all.

_The asshole better show up to class_ , Leonard thought irritatedly as he shoved the slides and lecture notes into a folder to give to him - and when he saw a guy who looked like he’d just stepped out of a cologne ad approach him after class, Leonard was _extremely_ grateful that he did.

_Probably our local celebrity_ , he thought, eyeing the guy’s jeans and button up flannel shirt that looked just a little too crisp and clean for a college student. Attractive, sure, but probably too full of his own importance to take anything seriously. 

“You’re Leonard, right?” the guy asked with a strange kind of smile.

“And you’re our last minute addition,” Leonard replied flatly, refusing to give him an easy pass just because he was easy on the eyes. 

“Yeah, Jim Kirk.” He looked as if he expected some kind of recognition on Leonard’s behalf.

Leonard acted as if the name meant nothing to him - which, honestly, it did. It certainly didn’t sound like a movie star or reality star or any other kind of star that he could think of. “Yeah, I saw it on the roster. Here, this is for you. Due at the end of the week.” Leonard held out the folder he put together for him. 

The guy looked a little disappointed, but he took the folder with good grace. “Thanks. I’ll get right on that.” He turned to leave but glanced back at Leonard again before he got too far. “What if I have questions?”

“My email is in the syllabus. We can set up some tutoring, if you need.” And God, Leonard was hoping that it wouldn’t come to that. The last thing he needed was to babysit some playboy who wanted his work done for him. Leonard pointedly dropped his gaze to start gathering up his papers, hoping the guy would take the hint and leave him alone. 

Jim did, looking vaguely like a kicked puppy as he walked away with another guy close on his heels. Good riddance. 

* * *

According to the syllabus, Leonard offered tutoring hours every Monday night in the library. No appointment was necessary, the students just had to show up and he’d go over the material for the week with them. Jim decided to take advantage of these hours to maybe get to know Leonard a little better under the pretense of getting some help with his work. He showed up to the library a little after seven, giving his would-be tutor a chance to settle down before ambushing him.

As it turned out, it took Jim two full rotations of the main floor to even _find_ Leonard, tucked away in a corner table next to the computer lab with a stack of books barricading him from the rest of the library.

“Hiding out?”

Leonard startled and looked up, surprised to see him standing there. “Ready to attack the first freshman who approaches.”

“Good thing I’m a sophomore then,” Jim said, pulled up a chair to sit next to him at the table. He pushed the books - a bunch of random reference books from the shelf nearest the table - to the side and dropped the folder on the table. “I wanted to go over this, make sure I understood everything before I made a complete idiot of myself in class. Not to mention, this is a terrible fortress design.”

Leonard sighed and took the folder, flipping through the worksheets that had been assigned. Even a cursory glance told him that Jim understood the material just fine and didn’t need any extra help. He should have been irritated that Jim was wasting his time, just like he should have been irritated that the kid was rearranging his makeshift fortress to better hide them both, but instead Leonard found himself intrigued. Maybe he had been wrong, this guy wasn’t the campus celebrity and he’d been a little too hasty in his judgement. Maybe he should give this guy another shot at a first impression.

“Everything looks good,” he said, handing the papers back to Jim as the kid sat down.

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, no obvious mistakes. I ain’t grading it before you turn it in, but I don’t think you have any problem understanding what we’ve covered so far.” Leonard sounded almost disappointed - and Jim sure as hell looked it.

“Right. Well, thanks for checking. Science isn’t really my thing.”

“Yeah, I saw you were a history major. Getting in your required credit?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Jim said, faking exasperation. “First Pike, then you - okay, Pike didn’t ask me that, he asked me what hot chick was in the class.”

Leonard’s small smile immediately disappeared. This was almost worse than him being some kind of celebrity. “And?”

“And what?”

“And what’s her name?”

“She doesn’t have a name!” This time, Jim’s exasperation was real. “I didn’t take the class for some woman, I took it because…”

But Jim trailed off, leaving Leonard hanging. “Because why? And don’t give me that ‘well rounded person’ crap.”

Jim stared at him for a long moment, then frowned. “You really have no idea who I am?”

Whatever interest Leonard had in the guy earlier was quickly waning, and he picked up his highlighter to focus on his inorganic chemistry again. “No, should I?”

“Pike’s office,” Jim blurted out. “I mean, it was a stupid thing, I don’t blame you for not remembering, I was just hoping that…”

“Hoping what? What on earth are you talking about?”

“You called Pike’s office by mistake, I put you through to Boyce’s…” Jim trailed off again, searching Leonard’s face for any kind of recognition. When there still wasn’t even a flicker of acknowledgement, he sighed and gathered up his things. “Just forget it. And thanks for looking this over, I really do appreciate it.”

“Hey, hey, sorry,” Leonard grabbed Jim’s wrist to keep him from leaving and tugged him back into his chair. “So I didn’t recognize your voice, is that why you’ve been acting like there’s a squirrel in your pants?”

“Maybe…” Jim muttered, willing his blush away. 

Leonard laughed. Loudly. People were starting to stare. Jim slumped down in his chair, sulking - Leonard found it strangely endearing. He clapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry, I just didn’t know I could leave such an impression in thirty seconds.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t have believed it either,” Jim said cooly, trying to regain just a little dignity. “But here we are.”

“Here we are indeed.” Leonard’s laughter had died down, but his amusement was still high. He shifted the attention from Jim’s obvious embarrassment to something more inside his comfort zone. “So. History. Why’d you choose that for your major?”

* * *

Monday nights became a regular thing, regardless of whether or not Jim had any questions about the week’s material for class. In fact, more often than not, he had questions that went far beyond what their textbook covered, and Leonard was only too happy to go into more depth. It turned out his first few impressions of Jim had been all wrong. He wasn’t empty-headed or vain or doing any of this to impress someone else. He was the exact opposite. He was intelligent and thoughtful, amazingly curious about anything that caught his interest, and even though he clearly had a more sheltered upbringing, he was as hard a worker as Leonard had ever seen. 

In short, Leonard liked him.

And Jim liked him too, finding every excuse in the book to meet up with him every Monday night. Sometimes, he’d do a little research beforehand, find some random topic to ask Leonard about and watch him take off. It was captivating, seeing such a normally reserved guy become so animated and passionate as he spoke. Jim could listen to him for hours. 

They didn’t stick to science topics, either. Sometimes, Leonard would ask Jim about his other classes, about the papers he was writing for History of Civilization, and laugh as Jim re-enacted some ancient battle on the table top using erasers and paperclips. 

Sometimes, they talked about their family. About how Leonard was the third generation in a row to become a doctor, and as cliche as it was, he wouldn’t have it any other way. About how Jim was born the day his father died. About Leonard’s love of bourbon, about Jim’s hatred of blueberries. About how Jim actually knew how to knit, and about how Leonard missed riding horses.

They didn’t always ask the big questions, though. 

“That guy who follows you around everywhere,” Leonard asked one Monday as they were packing up so the library could actually close. He’d gotten used to a small throng of admirers that followed Jim around everywhere, as annoying as they were, but the faces always varied except for one. One that didn’t look like he belonged in a university at all, and was fairly terrible at being subtle about watching them like a hawk. Leonard had half a mind to call campus security on him. “The one with the bangs who looks like he just swallowed a bunch of slugs. Who is he?”

“You mean Spock? He’s my bodyguard.”

Leonard had been too stunned by that answer to ask why Jim would need one in the first place. 

He’d recovered by Thursday, though, and pulled Jim aside after class.

“You’re a _prince_?” he hissed, feeling stupid for even uttering that word.

Jim rolled his eyes. “It’s not exactly something I’m advertising here, but yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“What was I supposed to say? Casually drop it into a conversation, ‘oh, by the way, I’m a prince of the Kingdom of Someplace You’ve Never Even Heard Of, but seriously, it’s not a big deal.’ Come on.”

“Still should’ve said something,” Leonard insisted. “So, what, should I address you as ‘Your Highness’?”

“You should address me as Jim! This right here is why I didn’t tell you. I’m no different from the guy I was before.”

Leonard paused a moment, digesting this new information. Jim looked slightly irritated that he was even making a thing of this in the first place, but other than that, he was the same Jim Leonard had been getting to know all semester. And fallen a little bit for. It was no secret that Jim was drop dead gorgeous, but when his intelligence and drive and general hilarity were added to the mix, he was pretty hard to resist.

Maybe that was why Leonard was so hung up on this. He felt like Jim had been keeping secrets from him, like he had only been pretending around Leonard and Leonard was pissed off that he’d fallen for the act. 

“Look,” Jim said, interrupting Leonard’s thoughts. “If it freaks you out that much, just forget about it. I’m not even the crown prince, that’s my older brother. The biggest responsibilities I have are dressing up for boring ass balls and waving to the crowds after my mom gives a speech. It’s not like Disney would have you believe.”

Or maybe he was exactly the same Jim Leonard always thought, he just had a hell of a lot more to learn about him. “This mean you know how to ride?”

“Oh, I know how to ride, and that’s got nothing to do with being a prince,” Jim leered.

Leonard rolled his eyes, but he felt a flush creeping up his neck. “You know what I mean.”

“I do, and my answer is still relevant. But yeah, I got a whole stable full of horses, I could ride almost before I could walk.”

That sealed it for Leonard. The thought of Jim dressed up in s crisp, pressed suit sitting pretty on top of a pure white steed was giving Leonard all kinds of ideas. “Alright, fine, I’ll forget about it. But we’re going for coffee and I get to hear all about this prince thing.”

“There really isn’t much to hear.”

“I still wanna hear it. And you’re buying.”

* * *

Coffee turned into another regular thing of theirs, in addition to their Monday night meetings. It was nice to get off campus and away from the small crowd that always followed Jim around. Out in the real world, no one in the diner or cafe knew who he was. He was just another guy, albeit an extremely good looking one. Spock still accompanied them everywhere, but Leonard was getting used to it - and Spock was also getting better at giving them a little space. He stopped insisting on sitting at the table directly next to them, something Leonard was eternally grateful for as their coffee dates turned more and more intimate.

Not as intimate as Leonard would have liked, but they were in a morally gray area where Leonard was _technically_ in a position of power over Jim and the administration would frown very heavily upon any kind of relationship between them. So they kept things casual, not wanting to cause any sort of scandal that would only make it that much harder on them later on. It was frustrating, but they only needed to get through the semester - something that was fast approaching, to the surprise of them both.

They were cozied up in their favorite coffee shop surrounded by finals study materials when Jim closed his book and set it aside, watching Leonard.

“Keep staring that hard and I’m not gonna be able to concentrate,” he said once Jim’s gaze had reached a certain level of discomfort.

“You know how I was telling you about my royal duties?”

“I remember something about dressing up and riding horses.”

“You _would_ remember those parts,” Jim said with a grin. “We have this annual Christmas ball, and I thought… maybe you’d like to be my date?”

Leonard promptly lost all interest in his textbook. “Like a _date_ date?”

“It’s after the semester’s over, so we don’t have to worry about that, and I know fancy isn’t really your thing, but… yeah. Like a date date.”

“Exactly how fancy are we talking?”

Jim winced. “Pretty fancy. But come out a day or two early and we can get you fitted in a suit. And, you know, we can spend more time together,” he added shyly.

Leonard wanted nothing more than to lean over and kiss Jim at that moment, but instead, he leaned his knee against Jim’s. “There better be some quality alcohol there.”

Jim immediately brightened and nodded. “Beyond top shelf.”

“And the stables?”

“I’ll give you a personal tour.”

* * *

The whole trip had been a little surreal for Leonard. Jim had insisted on buying his airplane tickets - which involved no less than two layovers, but it didn’t seem quite as bad when he was flying first class - and a Rolls Royce picked him up when he finally landed in the tiny little kingdom of Enterprise. As they drove to the palace, Leonard peppered the driver, a guy named Sulu, about the country and the royal family. Queen Winona had been on the throne for almost thirty years now. Her husband, like Jim said, had died shortly before her decennial jubilee, but she had never remarried. Her oldest son, Sam, was the crown prince, leaving Jim as the “spare to the heir” and giving him a lot more freedom in what he could do with his life. Sam was currently engaged to a research scientist named Aurelan, making Jim’s chances of ever taking the throne even slimmer. But, according to Sulu, Jim was perfectly fine with that. A life of ease had never been something Jim enjoyed, but his options were pretty limited. That was why he had fought so hard to be able to attend university - he wasn’t done learning just yet, and given the chance, he’d probably never stop. 

If Leonard hadn’t already been head over heels for the kid, this car ride would have sealed it.

When they pulled up to the palace, Leonard was a little… underwhelmed. It was still beautiful, to be sure, and huge and grand, but the building wasn’t ostentatious or overly decorated. It looked like a more typical stately home, one designed to stay in style for hundreds of years and not to simply catch on to the newest architectural craze. Leonard actually kinda liked it.

They were greeted at the door by a strikingly beautiful woman dressed in jeans and a hoodie without a stitch of makeup on and her blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail. “You must be Leonard!” she exclaimed, pulling him in for a a giant hug.

It wasn’t until Leonard saw Sulu bow and say “Your Majesty” that he put two and two together and realized this must be the Queen.

Leonard felt a little bad for not hugging back, in that case.

But Winona was already directing Sulu where to take Leonard’s bags, pulling away so she could loop her arm through Leonard’s to lead him into the palace. “Leonard, you have to tell me how Jim’s doing at school. He refuses to tell me anything other than his grades, and Pike is trying to pass off some student privacy bullshit to keep me in the dark.”

“Well, ma’am,” Leonard chuckled. “I can’t say much more, I’m afraid. I only helped him in one of his classes. The other ones were far beyond me.”

“Oh, you’re no fun,” Winona pouted. “And please, call me Winona. Enough people call me ma’am to make me feel old.”

“Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” whined a voice behind them, and they turned around to see Jim standing there, as dressed down as his mother. He forced himself between them, detangling them from each other so he could grab Leonard’s hand. “There’s nothing to say, that’s why no one is telling you anything.”

“Jim, there is always something going on with you,” Winona replied, hands on her hips. “But if you don’t hurry, you’re gonna mess up Scotty’s schedule. Go show your friend around.” 

As she shooed them away, Leonard couldn’t help but notice Jim’s reddened cheeks. He had wanted to believe that Jim’s family was just like any other, only with a few extra perks thrown in, and that about sealed it. He squeezed his hand. “So, your mom, huh?”

“Oh, shut up,” Jim laughed before tugging Leonard down the hallway. “But she’s right, if we don’t hurry, we’re gonna throw off Scotty’s schedule and no one wants to do that.”

“Who’s Scotty?”

“Tailor. He’s gonna get you fitted out for the ball.”

* * *

Three hours later, after being measured and poked and pricked a few dozen times, Leonard was glad to escape the constant attention that was being paid to him, and started to wonder how Jim could stand it. The people he’d met had been very nice and courteous to him, making sure he was taken care of and wasn’t wanting for anything, but it was getting exhausting. He felt like he had to be constantly “on,” and that was on top of the stress of meeting his hopefully-potential-lover’s family. Who was royalty. Yeah, this was definitely getting to be too much.

He stopped passing servant (he prayed it was a servant, at least) and asked for directions to the stables, the one place he’d feel just a little more comfortable in this giant beehive of activity. Much to his relief, the directions were simple enough that he didn’t need to be escorted, and he headed for the back of the palace.

Much to his surprise, he found only one other person there: Jim, pitchfork in hand and clearing some old hay from one of the stalls.

“I don’t know what surprises me more, that you managed to escape the insanity in there or that you know how to muck a stall,” Leonard said, coming to stand at the stall door and admiring the view of Jim bending over repeatedly.

“I told you, I learned how to ride almost before I could walk. That included taking care of my horse myself. As to the first,” Jim stopped and rubbed his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “I’ve lived in this palace my entire life, I know every escape exit and how well their monitored. I can disappear any time I want, and it’ll take them at least an hour to realize I’m gone.”

“An hour, huh?” Leonard said with a sly smile.

“Hold that thought.” Jim immediately caught on, but pushed past him. “I have horse shit all over my hands, give me five minutes.”

Leonard stepped outside, watching the storm clouds as they gathered. Snow was on the way, just in time for a white Christmas - and if that wasn’t just the most cliche thing Leonard could imagine. A white Christmas inside a palace, cozied up with a prince. All he needed was some hot chocolate and a fat man in a red suit and the scene was complete.

He felt two arms slip around his waist and a chin rest on his shoulder, then decided cozied up with a prince wasn’t so bad after all. 

“It’s not too much, is it? Being here?” Jim asked, the worry clear in his voice. 

“It’s… different. But it’s manageable, long as you’re around.”

“Good.” Jim kissed his cheek, and sure enough, Leonard saw a few flakes of snow start to fall. 

_To hell with it_ , Leonard thought and he turned around to face Jim. If this was going to be a ridiculous fairy tale, he might as well go all the way. He leaned in and kissed him, feeling Jim’s lips curve up into a smile as he kissed back. 

“I am so glad you called Pike’s office that day.”

“Me too, Jim. Me too.”


End file.
